GENEVA — "Drones and drought are closing in on Sudan's children from both sides. It is an assault unlike anything we have seen in Sudan's history," UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told journalists in Geneva on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, after returning from El Obeid in North Kordofan state.
Source: UNICEF press release, Nov 10, 2026
"In the last week of October, not a single day passed without an armed drone striking a power station in Sudan. Up to 15 were hit in the month," Elder said. The drones travel up to 1,500 kilometres before hitting their target, UN News reported, and Elder described the repeated strikes on key sites across Sudan's power grid — spreading geographically and coming in quick succession — as a serious escalation in attacks on civilian infrastructure.
Source: UNICEF / UN News, Nov 10, 2026
"In Sudan, power is water," Elder said. "When a power station is struck, water pumps stop and water treatment stops. Families are forced onto expensive and unsafe alternatives. Disease spreads. We are again seeing pockets of cholera in some of the hardest-to-reach communities, including among internally displaced families." Cold storage for vaccines and medicines is also threatened, farmers lose irrigation as pumps run on electricity amid crippling fuel shortages, harvests suffer and food prices keep rising, he said.
Source: UNICEF press release, Nov 10, 2026
At the same time, El Niño damage has already begun in Sudan: even if late rains arrive, they cannot undo the damage, and the planting window for the 2026-27 cereal harvest has largely closed, Elder said at the UN Geneva briefing. The alert comes amid ongoing fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, former allies turned rivals who have been at war since April 2023.
Source: UN Geneva briefing / UN News, Nov 10, 2026
Children carrying the war's wounds
In camps last week, Elder met children whose arms and hands had been blown off in the war, including a teenager who lost both hands to an explosive, lives in a tent, studies online in the mornings and collects grass for animals in the afternoons with the help of friends. UNICEF does not name the child in its account beyond a first name, and Awaaz Punjab does not identify minor victims. "People in Sudan talk about three things: they talk about safety, education and water. Drones are taking all three," Elder said.
Source: UNICEF press release, Nov 10, 2026
Working with communities, UNICEF and partners say they have treated hundreds of thousands of children for the deadliest form of malnutrition, helped provide healthcare to more than 2.5 million people, vaccinated millions of children, repaired and solarised water systems keeping safe water flowing for close to 8 million people, and reached 1.5 million children and families with protection and psychosocial support. UNICEF's 2026 appeal for Sudan seeks $962.9 million (yaani about $96.29 crore) to reach 13.8 million people, including 7.9 million children.
Source: UNICEF, Nov 10, 2026
What is solid
- In the last week of October 2026, not a single day passed without an armed drone striking a power station in Sudan, and up to 15 power stations were hit in the month (UNICEF spokesperson James Elder, Geneva, Nov 10, 2026).
- Two in three child casualties in Sudan this year were caused by drones, and an estimated 825,000 children under five are expected to suffer severe acute malnutrition in 2026 (UNICEF).
- UNICEF's Sudan response is only one-third funded, and the agency is calling for an end to attacks on civilian infrastructure, safe access across conflict lines, and urgent sustained funding.
What is only claimed
- UNICEF did not formally attribute the power-station strikes to either side: asked who was responsible, Elder said only that "one would struggle" to imagine the tactic would be in the military government's interests — an implication, not an attribution. The SAF and RSF have each accused the other of attacking civilian infrastructure throughout the war.
- The child-casualty and malnutrition figures are UNICEF's own counts and estimates from a war zone with restricted access; they have not been independently verified on the ground.
"For three and a half years, the suffering of Sudan's children has been met with silence," Elder said. "When the power goes, the water pumps stop. When the rains fail, the food runs out. Sudan's children are now facing both at once. If the world is waiting for something worse, it will be waiting at their graves."
Source: UNICEF press release, Nov 10, 2026
Three things: an end to violence against children and to attacks on power stations, water systems and civilian infrastructure; safe access across conflict lines and pressure from those with influence to stop the flow of weapons killing and injuring children; and urgent, sustained, flexible funding — the Sudan response is only one-third funded — to keep safe water, malnutrition treatment, healthcare, education and protection running.